The resurgence of interstate complaints for human rights violations. Between 'lawfare' and collective enforcement of human rights

Interstate complaints for human rights violations have for long remained overlooked, being perceived with skepticism and apprehension of their economic and political repercussions. However, their existence merely on paper has recently got outdated, with States increasingly resorting to judicial and quasi-judicial proceeding within the framework of both regional and universal human rights conventions. The peculiarity of such a tendency toward 'jurisdictionalization' in the human rights field lies in the variety of interests pursued by States initiating proceeding. Indeed, interstate human rights complaints have shifted from serving the public interest of collectively enforcing "erga omnes partes" obligations, to becoming an instrument at the disposal of State for pursuing their own interests. Although the coexistence of collective and national interests does not represent "tout court" a negative occurrence, the overriding of the latter may unveil an abusive use of such claims, which can potentially serve 'lawfare'. This raises doubts as to whether the substantial distinction between 'disinterested' and 'interested' interstate human rights applications produces any consequence in terms of active legal standing and admissibility of such claims. With the aim of unravelling this question, the contribution will first provide an overview of recent interstate human rights complaints before monitoring bodies established under regional and universal human rights conventions, as well as before the International Court of Justice. Assuming that, under certain circumstances, 'interested' complaints may in theory constitute an abuse of process, we will seek to understand which role, if any, judicial institutions can play in curbing this phenomenon and ensuring that interstate mechanisms for human rights violations are not (ab)used to serve purposes other than those for which they were initially conceived, thus strengthening the substantial protection of human rights.